tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19605773522023945752018-08-29T23:38:46.333-07:00Cernunnos CaveMusings on Games, Gaming and LifeDuncan Bainnoreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-4365232959939005952018-05-17T11:02:00.001-07:002018-05-17T11:02:28.228-07:00D12 System Dev Diary 4<p dir="ltr">Saved by the works of someone better than I.</p><p dir="ltr">Should be the strap for this post. The longer version is that I kind of forgot that as a Cortex backer I have access to the SRD and Cam Banks has done a fantastic job of putting into words and dice most of the concepts I've been playing about with in systems development for this game. So I'm going to retool a bit and switch in that ruleset with a few amendments and variant rules applied to bring it in line with the overall game concept.</p><p dir="ltr">The best news about this switch is twofold. First I can reused the best bits of my prior attempt. e.g. Aptitudes and advantages as these were monumentally great from a world building perspective. Secondly, annoyingly tricky bits like damage mechanics are already built and tested which means I can concentrate on adding value elsewhere. For example, folding in the expansion content of bargains and the consequences (narrative and system) of where success comes from.</p><p dir="ltr">One other thing definitely making it in from Cortex is _ as this trait type has huge narrative potential.</p><p dir="ltr">Basically you write a statement that's true about your character. That gives you a pool die (D8) when it's relevant. if you the act against that truth you get 3D instead of 1 for that action and then it's stepped down to D6 for the remainder of play until you hit downtime and rewrite it.</p><p dir="ltr">Here are a couple of examples.</p><p dir="ltr">You have the statement "I always have Jeff the Merc's back". Which means you get a die whenever you're backing Jeff up.<br>But for the last couple of sessions Jeff has been a bit of a tool so the next time you, in a righteous rage, throw him to the wolves. you get 3D this time around and in downtime you rewrite you statement as "Watching out for Jeff"</p><p dir="ltr">You are a big fat panda and write that "I've had the noodle dream" so you get a bonus die when doing noodle shop stuff.<br>At a later point you then confess that you lied and that you love kung fu. 3D for riding a firework chair into the stadium etc. and in downtime you change "noodle dream" to "kung fu dream"</p><p dir="ltr">anyways. the rest of this dev diary series will focus on the Cortex SRD implementation and maybe I'll even come up with a better name for it...</p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-7183979018231462092018-05-14T15:16:00.001-07:002018-05-14T15:16:31.337-07:00D12 System Dev Diary 3<p dir="ltr">Aptitude and Advantage seem to be working fine so far. Generated a lot of good chat and added plenty sidebar content to local world building.</p><p dir="ltr">I'm still not sure that the core mechanic is going to work though. Split pools may be too small in real combat and may just act as a break on the action so I'm reviewing this and coming up with some alternatives.</p><p dir="ltr">Playbooks really don't work for the open box setup. There are just too many possibilities to try and account for so I think I'll move to a life path style for future characters. </p><p dir="ltr">I'm interested to see if simply a collection of advantages would better reflect what I'm aiming for given the quality of play so far off limited information.</p><p dir="ltr">Design of the magic system is still giving me the cold sweats as I know the feel I want to give but mechanically its the hardest part to balance. </p><p dir="ltr">Also still to bottom out is the damage/survival mechanism. I had an old idea for weapon cards that I might dig up and try out. </p><p dir="ltr">I also have an embryonic idea about chaining actions together but this probably only works for combat and I wasn't keen on separate resolution mechanics but again I may try that out. </p><p dir="ltr">I may simply have to become accepting of higher levels of abstraction to get the game to work in an OOG environment that is pressed for time. <br></p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-939585794051483482018-05-08T22:22:00.001-07:002018-05-12T01:55:45.109-07:00D12 System Dev Diary 2<p dir="ltr">Aptitude. </p><p dir="ltr">Aptitudes are broad areas that you have a natural talent or affinity for. An aptitude grants 1D for any appropriate action test. </p><p dir="ltr">Aptitudes are recorded on your playbook in the form</p><p dir="ltr">Natural born _</p><p dir="ltr">Some examples are:<br>Warrior<br>Scholar <br>Rider <br>Archer<br>Logician <br>Herbalist</p><p dir="ltr">All characters begin the game with a single aptitude. </p><p dir="ltr">Ability</p><p dir="ltr">Your ability score represents the time you have invested in training and developing a specific skill or area of knowledge. </p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-51229250271193530262018-05-07T12:47:00.000-07:002018-05-12T02:19:39.363-07:00D12 Setting Dev Diary 1<p dir="ltr">The thin breeze failed cut the stench inside the wagon, merely rearranging it into an equally unpleasant miasma. Comfort not being high on the agenda of chainers, the the wagon train bumped and rolled with the gait of the huge folak harnessed to it. The beast itself looked to be in poor condition, great curtains of dry skin sloughing from its sides, huge tongue lolling to one side.</p><p dir="ltr">The guards escorting the caravan looked almost as discomforted as their charges. Mercenaries for the most part with a few company men alongside. Faces wrapped against the ever present dust most walked alongside the train. A few outriders ranged off to the fore and aft and the ubiquitous horta caravan dogs loped around vainly hoping for scraps. </p><p dir="ltr">In the distance, the faint rumble of the great falls and their penultimate destination, Anvall, City of Chains. </p><p dir="ltr">At the head of the train Ioan was one the first to catch sight of the great dome of the Chainers Hall. Soon they could offload their stinking cargo to the kind ministrations of the placement officers. After that he would have enough put by to sign on with a Velaki crew and sail for Planos.</p><p dir="ltr">He would be well rid of the Nassi tribesmen with their strange eyes and that beast Rolk the Ugir. Best of all the sea air would rid his nostrils of the scent of hopelessness that hung about the train like fog. </p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-12173844138016570662018-05-07T12:40:00.001-07:002018-05-07T12:40:20.413-07:00D12 System Dev Diary 1<h2 dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">What's all this about?</span></h2><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">This work is directly inspired by both Evil Hat's Fate Core and John Harper's excellent Blades in the Dark. Indirectly by a 30+ year history of analogue and computer gaming. I was looking for something to use for an open world FRPG and although I love both Blades and Fate, neither was quite the right fit for the feel of the game I want to run. So what started as a Fate/Blades hack has become something rather more. This version&nbsp; unashamedly uses a bucketload of d12's because they give the results curve a nice shape and they roll nicely.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">I wanted to retain player agency so similarly to Blades only the players roll dice in most circumstances. There's going to be all manner of conflict in this game and so I wanted to generate a feel of dynamism which I'm hoping to do with advantages.</span></div><h3 dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Taking action</span></h3><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">There is no need to make an action test if:</span></div><ul dir="ltr"><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">an action has no reasonable chance of failure</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">failure would not produce an interesting&nbsp; complication&nbsp; </span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">failure would not move the story forward</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">failure does not add dramatic tension</span></div></li></ul><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">In any of these cases the action should be narrated as having succeeded without rolling dice. </span><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Otherwise, an action test is required</span></div><ul dir="ltr"><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Build a dice pool</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Split the pool into action and reaction dice</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">If you act first the roll action dice and check the result </span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">If you need to make a reaction roll those dice and check the result</span></div></li></ul><h4 dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Building your pool</span></h4><ul dir="ltr"><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Start with a number of dice equal to your ability. </span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">If your aptitude applies add 1D</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Use an advantage to add 1D</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">If the action is above your ability then subtract 1D</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">For each complication subtract 1D</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">When an opponent has the advantage subtract 1D</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Physical actions add 1D and have a minimum pool of 1D</span></div></li></ul><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">If the action is directly opposed then split your pool into action and reaction dice.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">You will usually have a choice of whether to act or react first but sometimes circumstances will dictate who acts first.</span></div><h4 dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Rolling the dice</span></h4><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Roll all your (re) action dice. Highest number counts.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">If your highest result is:</span></div><ul dir="ltr"><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">1-3 you flub your action in the worst possible way and probably give your opponent the advantage.</span></div></li><li><div>4<span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">-6 things are not going your way. you fail to achieve the outcome you wanted.</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">7-9 glass half full. you managed to do it but at a cost.</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">10-11 done deal. your action plays out exactly the way to wanted.</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">12 stylish. success with flair, increased effect, start a chain or +1 advantage.</span></div></li></ul><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">If your top result is 10-12 then for every extra 10-12 result you get you gain +1 advantage.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;"></span></div><h4 dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Advantages</span></h4><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Advantages come in two flavours, immediate and perpetual. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Immediate advantages are usually the result of action test rolls and can be spent on the task at hand only. They can not be carried over to new tasks, although they<i> may</i> be carried over to different types of actions that are part of the same task where appropriate.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">Immediate advantage is lost when:</span></div><ul dir="ltr"><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">The task at hand has finished (complete or otherwise)</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">It is spent on actions to accomplish the task at hand.</span></div></li><li><div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">When it is squandered (a 4-6 max result)</span></div></li><div><br /><li><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">When it is taken from you (a 1-3 max result)</span></li></div><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;"></span></ul><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">Perpetual advantages are usually gained from equipment, training, secret knowledge, magic or other means. They can be used on multiple tasks and often on multiple actions in a task.</span></div><h4 dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif;">Using your advantage</span></h4><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">Advantages can only be applied to actions following the action that generated them.&nbsp;</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">They can be used before the roll for +1D each</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">They can be used after the roll to buy up a result on 1D, e.g. turning a 1-3 result into a 4-6 result etc.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">If you buy up to a 12 result then that result does not generate advantage but may be used for flair, increased effect or to start a chain.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;"></span><br /><blockquote><span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot;;">That's it for D12 Dev Diary 1, next up some worked examples and a touch of world building.</span></blockquote></div>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-139738977149442912017-09-07T06:42:00.001-07:002018-05-04T12:33:52.416-07:00Blades of Earthdawn Design diary 2<p dir="ltr">In which I discuss some systems tweaks for this implementation of Blades. </p><p dir="ltr">I have tried to stick to a general principle of only making changes that support the narrative and avoided those that make major system modifications. This project is not a redesign of Blades but an adaptation to fit the fiction of the Earthdawn setting. </p><p dir="ltr"><b>Approaches</b><br>The only change here is a cosmetic exchange the Weird approach to Arcane as this better fits the fiction. <br></p><p dir="ltr"><b>Karma and Effect</b><br>One of the factors that Blades does not model by default is a central plank of the original Earthdawn system, Karma. Karma is a hoardable, currency used to purchase dice and activate effects. In practice it has only been a rare occurrence in any of the games that I have played in that anyone has run&nbsp; out of Karma, especially if well planned which in some ways is disappointing. In this implementation Karma becomes a rundown clock. Once filled you have run out of Karma and must use a downtime action to recover before if can&nbsp; be used again. The size of this clock is determined by your character's race. </p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-5313558875628275052017-08-28T09:26:00.001-07:002017-08-28T09:26:58.582-07:00BitD Episode 3 - the palimpsest <p dir="ltr"><b>Clocks</b></p><p dir="ltr">I've been trying to ensure that the setting is as important a player as the players so I'm now running a load of clocks both background and foreground. Background clocks are things that are going on mostly independently from PC actions and unknown to them. Foreground clocks are either things the PCs are involved in, are affecting or have an awareness of. </p><p dir="ltr">So I was really pleased this score that a whole load of them advanced without prompting. </p><p dir="ltr"><b>The Score</b></p><p dir="ltr">This episode things got weird. The crew, who still need a name (I am making this a prerequisite for advancing to tier 1), decided that the would cement their alliance with the Wraiths by carrying out a job for them. </p><p dir="ltr">As a test of both aptitude and commitment their contact delivered the instructions on a slip of vellum. Their very own mistress of mystery attuned to the note and read the words "The Black Swan" before discovering the note was a palimpsest. </p><p dir="ltr">Her companions noticed nothing other than the lady was becoming increasingly pale and short of breath. Never one to stand idly by if a damsel is in distress, brave Fizz manfully destroyed the evidence with purifying electroplasmic flame. </p><p dir="ltr">Having identified their target the companions decided that in the true spirit of the setting a weird approach was the best to take. Through some clever use of flashbacks they set up a steam carriage in which Lady K could Whisper to a local ghost and haunt the bejeezes out of the current inhabitants. </p><p dir="ltr">A number of terrible deaths later the entity settled itself into the property like a malign, cantankerous elder into an old leather armchair. </p><p dir="ltr">Luckily Fizz was on hand to injure himself on behalf of the crew by driving a steam contrivance filled with the recently departed and an ice picked lampblack into a stanchion near the red sash hideout after disposing of the remainder of the bodies to science. </p><p dir="ltr">That left if up to Liv to encourage looky-loos and rubberneckers to move along a the scene as the establishment was closed for a private function. </p><p dir="ltr">6 coin and 6 rep for these shenanigans with plans made to turn the Swan into a going concert as a bawdy house. </p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-50619634514894261722017-08-28T09:01:00.001-07:002018-05-04T12:34:07.019-07:00Blades of Earthdawn Design diary 1<p dir="ltr">In this design diary I take a look at the three phases of play and how they might be adapted to Earthdawn.</p><p dir="ltr">There are three distinct phases to play in BitD. More or less these run cyclically through Free Play, The Score and Downtime.</p><p dir="ltr">Free play in the context of Earthdawn is more or less the default play style for the the game as written. The main difference is that there is a sense of pressure to get things done not really present in the source. Free play in the blades adaptation is about lining up resources, touching base with contacts and setting up the next Score.</p><p dir="ltr">Skipping over to Downtime, this is the phase where our heroes lick their wounds, spend some coin indulging their vices and working on long term projects. In Earthdawn these can be relatively mundane or more mystical in nature, such as spell research or the discovery of key knowledge. </p><p dir="ltr">Scores in Earthdawn present themselves in a number of guises. Bringing a caravan to its destination through bad country, raiding a kaer, taking out a Scorcher camp are all good Scores, each with their own challenges and all supporting a variety of different approaches.</p><p dir="ltr">In summary, although it might not seem the obvious fit, for certain types of game play BitD is a suitable vector for storytelling in the Earthdawn <u>setting</u>. I'm interested to see how this stacks up against the arguably more open Fate Core (one of my all time favourite systems) and also against the new edition of Cortex. </p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-37396347989225117172017-08-15T12:29:00.001-07:002017-08-15T12:29:51.360-07:00BitD Episode 2 - milking the hagfish<p dir="ltr"><u>This</u> week was divided up into downtime from the last score and crew creation. </p><p dir="ltr">Our proto-gang took a haul of 4 coin from the score and despite a quiet entrance made a heck of a racket once they were there so drew down almost enough heat to achieve a wanted level on their first day out. </p><p dir="ltr"><b>Downtime</b> </p><p dir="ltr">Pidge won big at the tables and then spent the rest of the night losing it while boasting about how they had cleared the place and Baszo could forget a payout. The result; wanted level 1.</p><p dir="ltr">Fizz started work on his spring-loaded shotgun derringer project, "Icepick's farewell"</p><p dir="ltr">Lady <u>K</u> tapped out her vice purveyor, presumably by refusing to leave the baths or more likely not paying. So who knows how she'll get her pampering now perhaps a new line of supply might unblot her copybook? </p><p dir="ltr">The only member of the crew to be injured on the score, Icepick sought treatment, <i>eventually</i>, and then began researching some modifications to his long rifle. </p><p dir="ltr">Liv was absent, presumed overindulging in her vice of beating up pimps. </p><p dir="ltr"><b>Crew</b></p><p dir="ltr">A matter of some debate and that very much in character. Eventually by assent the final decision was Hawkers, Lady K proving her silver tongue too quick to argue against. Natural talent or insidious Skov sorcery? </p><p dir="ltr">Having decided that they were having none of Baszo's gunpoint diplomacy the gang went all in allying with the lampblacks enemies in the red lantern district where their sales territory is. Adding a boat house to the lair seemed a sensible upgrade alongside loadout. </p><p dir="ltr">Finally the time came to decide on a commodity to hawk. After passing around some great ideas about rare, semi-legal options an off colour hag fish joke caused near fatal asphyxia through laughter and led to Giggle Water. </p><p dir="ltr">Cheering up the Dusk, one shot at a time...</p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-32372040442543512762017-08-08T05:54:00.001-07:002017-08-08T05:54:43.302-07:00Blades in the Dark - First Play<p dir="ltr">The very lovely Kat and Jake have joined the regular games night crew so rather than shoehorn them uncomfortably into an existing game we are playing John Harper's Blades in the Dark. It's published by Evil Hat. </p><p dir="ltr">The Book</p><p dir="ltr">Well it's gorgeous. I have the standard hardback and it's both well constructed and well laid out. The artwork really reflects the feel the author was aiming for and Ryan Dunleavy's map is top notch. You can find detailed more of his maps at patreon. </p><p dir="ltr">Getting Going</p><p dir="ltr">I trailer the setting and pen portraits of the playbooks out to our Facebook group in the week before so the guys could begin to come up with some ideas for who they would like to be. </p><p dir="ltr">On the night character creation was the fastest I have ever seen for 5 new characters with 2 novice players as we managed to get that done and a short score in less than three hours. </p><p dir="ltr">We didn't do crew creation though which would have extended that a bit. </p><p dir="ltr">Really interesting characters with lots of hooks for me to tie them into the story. Some, looking at you icepick, have less well defined areas to their character which works really well in this setting as the other players are imagining their worst.</p><p dir="ltr">Leaving details to come out in play enabled us to get into the action faster and I expect will lead to more depth over the longer term. </p><p dir="ltr">Let the Bodies Hit the Floor </p><p dir="ltr">I've seen a number of posts elsewhere on crunch comparisons, especially with Fate Core. Here's my take. More crunch but lower friction than Fate Core. Crunchy bits optional but add flavour and texture. I'll decompose this in a later post. </p><p dir="ltr">What happened when we did roll dice was awesome. </p><p dir="ltr">The crew were to take out a drug house for Baszo, leader of the Lampblacks. </p><p dir="ltr">Icepick scouted the job and identified an unwatched garret entrance. Breaking in they ticked the alert clock by bouncing the window from its frame on a partial roll. </p><p dir="ltr">Once inside they scooted quickly down the stairs and took out the balcony guards before Icepick managed to get himself in an awkward position on the stairs. </p><p dir="ltr">Fuzz let fly with his purloined shotgun only to find it loaded with birdshot and then things started to get loud. </p><p dir="ltr">Everyone on the crew got into the mix-up. Special mention to Liv for wrecking everything and everyone she could get her hands on. </p><p dir="ltr">Downtime next <u>week.</u></p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-731342259814818882015-10-13T08:08:00.001-07:002015-10-13T08:08:13.719-07:00Zero TendencyCrunchy but a nice fit with certain types of fiction, where zeroing in and other forms of the language of precision are common.<br /><br />The basics are that you take 2d6, nominate one as positive and the other negative, roll them and subtract the result on the negative die from the result on the positive die.<br /><br />You are aiming for precision, zero deviation, the bullseye.<br /><br />If you need to find two dimensional precision then roll an additional d6 and for positive results count clockwise from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock, for negative results counterclockwise. This gives direction to the 2d6 magnitude roll.<br /><br />The language of positive results:<br />Too much<br />Over<br />Overcooked<br />Overkill<br />Off To the right<br /><br />The language of negative results:<br />Too little<br />Not enough<br />Under<br />Undercooked<br />Weak<br /><br />The language of zero:<br />Zeroed in<br />Precise<br />On the money<br />Bullseye<br />Finesse<br />Just right<br />Perfect<br /><br />This can be modified in a lot of ways supporting the basic fiction. Competence or external influence can add more or less dice, change the type of die rolled, change the range of success, add or subtract fixed values as modifiers.Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-30876382975410486492015-08-11T07:55:00.000-07:002015-08-11T11:57:34.583-07:00Myth Campaign Diary - Who's the Boss<i>“Back to the pit foul wyrm! Lest I lay about me with the cold iron head of my mighty weapon! No beast so foul shall be suffered to live while I stand firm!”, roared the Acolyte.</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>“Stop grandstanding and get out of the way, you’re spoiling my shot.”, snapped the Archer</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>Ignoring the petty squabbling of the fleshlings, the Spriggan thickened it’s bark and braced for the chitinous fiend making its inevitable attack.</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>Silently, but for the faint crack of rapidly forming ice, a bone numbing chill spread over the floor of the cavern from a silver ribbon extending from the fingers of the Apprentice where they brushed the dark loam. The masterwork complete he drew back to his librams, considering whether to further aid the band of ragamuffins he had become entwined with.</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>Hissing and clacking, the great worm moved slowly, but inexorably forward even as it was chilled to the marrow by the Apprentice’s great spell. Its urgency to devour ultimately its undoing.</i><br /><i><br /></i>The answer the question is pretty categorically, not the Boss. The first barrage from the heroes wiped out stage one of the Terror without even triggering the Darkness Cycle.<br /><br />The ongoing -2 to TN chill effect generated by the Apprentice is great on big base models and considering how well geared we are pretty much guaranteed hits for every attack.<br /><br />Stage 2 was a bit more challenging, but it never felt like we were in any real danger. A smaller or less well equipped group would probably have a tougher time of it as the Terror’s trample ability prevents adjacent heroes from acting effectively.<br /><br />The group was helped out by their big serendipity bank, summoning Bobby twice to soak up hits from the Terror’s multi-hit attacks.<br /><br />Ultimately, though, stage two was dispatched inside another two cycles.<br />Three of the heroes took the Life Bringer title and the Spriggan loaded upgraded armour into her deck.<br /><br />Next episode is a custom setup non-story adventure with some extra goodies, and possibly some photo’s. We’ll also be using the Orcneas deck for more of a challenge so I’ll need to get painting.<br /><div><br /></div>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-47021035979715246962015-07-27T04:41:00.001-07:002015-07-27T04:41:47.585-07:00Myth Campaign Diary: The House Rules Edition<p dir="ltr">No Flavour text this update but we've just cleared everything except the Terror in act 3 so plenty of that to come in the next update "The Song of the Spider"<br></p><p dir="ltr">The Monty Haul Problem<br>Thus begins the final push towards the end of story two act three. And I&#8217;m beginning to feel that there might be a treasure problem. I fact I&#8217;m having&#160; a bit of an existential Myth crisis about a few things.</p><p dir="ltr">Number One &#8211; the Loot<br>I&#8217;m a tabletop GM by nature and one of the maxim&#8217;s I&#8217;ve learned to live by is &#8220;Keep &#8216;em poor and hungry for more&#8221;. The acquisition of material stuff is a primary driver for adventuring. A paucity of said stuff also means that the players and their characters are challenged more strongly by circumstances and are therefore forced to become more inventive in their problem solving. This always leads to a good story.<br>We&#8217;re into our 6th act in total and most of us are carrying one or two pieces of blue gear and the rest is green. <br>Being an experienced bunch we are also very good at maximising our opportunities for gaining loot. This has resulted in us being both very well equipped and fantastically rich.<br>The upshot is that the current batch of antagonists is proving less challenging that I though they would.</p><p dir="ltr">Number Two - Faffing About (or the loss of urgency)<br>Mechanically if the perceived danger is low then there is no incentive to gain threat. Realistically this means that the only threat thresholds that we meet on the darkness deck are the occasional 8, and that&#8217;s only the case when we&#8217;ve needed to do a high threat action for a specific quest gain, such as in the epic mega kill episode last post.<br>It also means that once the lairs are done we can faff about for ages using movement cards to meet the &#8220;must act&#8221; anti loitering criteria while picking up all the treasure tokens.</p><p dir="ltr">Number Three &#8211; Bum Scratching<br>This has happened to both the trickster, where I think this is a larger defect, and most recently to the spriggan. You draw a hand and there&#8217;s no useful contribution you can make, repeat until at the end of your deck. By this point everyone else has been sticking the boot in and you&#8217;ve sat about scratching your bum for an hour or more. This is about the least fun you can have playing Myth.<br>The problem for the Spriggan is that she is very fragile until geared up which does apply some urgency pressure, but in a larger group context just leaves her hanging about at the back doing nothing and feeling like a third wheel.</p><p dir="ltr">Number Four &#8211; Follow the Leader<br>Minion clumping is a thing. Especially with the instinct enemies they all rush the heroes and effectively block the captains from doing anything apart from wandering up and down the back row like a heavily armoured football coach. Not so much of a problem at setup but after a few spawns makes the tile a turgid swamp of slowly shuffling minions. Captains are also slow to emerge in the Terror deck which means that there are usually a lot of crawlers on the tile before they put in an appearance.</p><p dir="ltr">House Rules<br>We&#8217;ve had a bunch of great Myth sessions but we&#8217;ve put in a whole heap of hours and that&#8217;s drawing out some underlying issues, non of which can&#8217;t be overcome with a house rule or two. And it&#8217;s also possible that the chaps at Myth HQ will have already thought of these for Journeyman.</p><p dir="ltr">Changes to enemy movement<br>We&#8217;ve already been playing these house rules as they are mainly clarifications to the existing movement rules.</p><p dir="ltr">Proximity<br>Proximity attackers will do their best to move next to the closest target. If they are obviously blocked then then will move towards the next nearest, based on their priority and so on.</p><p dir="ltr">Threat<br>When calculating which target to attack based on threat subtract the distance the enemy unit would have to travel from the calculation. This reduces clustering as it means that enemies will close with heroes as targets of opportunity first unless given a compelling threat and gives a reason for the soldier to keep his threat high to draw fire from other heroes.</p><p dir="ltr">Changes to card draw<br>Before anyone plays a card in the hero cycle you may discard a card, search your deck for a replacement card and place it in your hand. To do this you must pay the AP cost of the card plus one as the Darkness becomes aware of your manipulation of the fates. The may spend 1 serendipity to reduce the AP cost by one. You may not spend more than one serendipity.</p><p dir="ltr">New Mechanics for the Acolyte<br>You may play a card face down to heal a hero by one point of vitality. The range of this ability is equal to your Faith. This operates in a similar way to the Soldier&#8217;s rage mechanic</p><p dir="ltr">Changes to lair spawn<br>If there are eight or more minions on the tile then the lair will automatically spawn a Captain during the Darkness cycle in addition to the spawn on the Darkness card. </p><p dir="ltr">Changes to treasure<br>Intelligent creatures moving over a treasure token will expend a point of movement to pick it up, returning it to the treasure pool for the tile.</p><p dir="ltr">All of these will be reviewed once we introduce new darkness decks as some of these issues may be caused by just playing the stories for the Terror.</p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-12950265784580926192015-07-03T13:59:00.002-07:002015-07-03T14:00:40.260-07:00Myth Campaign Diary: Whoa! That's way too much threat.<div class="MsoNormal">Act 1 ends with Pete the Thief sending us off into the woods, which are of course, cursed. We also need to kill 12 minions in a single hero cycle to fulfil our additional quest objective and oh, we can’t use any move cards or we’ll be stuck in the woods forever.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s a pretty straightforward dodge through the first tile, loading it with a massive hunting pack tied up the Avatar of Winter long enough to put out all four torches before having to engage him and so it was on to the main 12x12 and our epic kill challenge.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">...<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“Hold the line!” shouted the Acolyte, his hammer’s head quivering in anticipation as he gripped the shaft more tightly.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Fenwick shuffled nervously, mentally marking her targets as she checked her quiver for the fourth time.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>As usual the Spriggan looked on impassively, impossible to read.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“Where the hell is the Brigand?” muttered Fenwick, scanning the shadows for any sign of him.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Crawlers surged forward.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>With a sound like a dozen doors being kicked in at once a huge Elder tree spirit infused a young sapling and crushed the entrance to the crawler lair like a beam falling on an egg.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Bark thickening, the Spriggan strode forward, blackwood buckler a staunch barrier against the oncoming mob of grubbers and crawlers.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal">...<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Even without the movement restriction we would have taken our time entering the tile. To meet the quest criteria we needed the minions to bunch up and maximise our chances to make a big kill.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">...<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“AAAAAAAH!” Hot white flames danced out from the Acolyte at the climax of his prayer, burning away five minions in rush of holy power.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>With perfect timing Fenwick loosed the pent up energy bound up in her taught bowstring and a rain of arrows left another six dead.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Whirling from the shadows the Brigand, a dark reaver armed with razor sharp talons, swept three more aside. Crossing the short distance in less than the blink of an eye, slashing to either side of him, the two mucker captains slumped at his feet. Both fell, stupefied as if their bodies had been left no time to tell their brains that they were dead.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal">...<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">With the Spriggan and its Elder ally acting as vanguard, blocking the minions from attacking that freed the other party members up to go all out against the minion horde.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The final death toll was sixteen in a single hero cycle. The drawback of course was that our threat was through the roof and we spent the rest of the session trying to manage it down to avoid triggering more than two threat events.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">As it was we had to face the razorfiend again and it was only the fact that the Spriggan was fully geared that enabled us to survive long enough to mount a counter attack.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The treasure bag now contained two blue tokens and by a massive stroke of luck I pulled both of them on a single draw.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">All the party members bar the Spriggan now have at least one blue item which bodes well for completing the story. If anything I think we’re a bit over powered now but we’ll see when we have to face Yardu and The Terror if that’s the case.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">In any event, I’m going to try out the Apprentice next week, as that’s the only character I have left to play and I’d like to have played through at least one 12x12 with each one before I run any demo games at my FLGS.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">The second part of act 2 should be a cakewalk now and then it’s on to our encounter with our first proper boss.<o:p></o:p></div>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-35207143392895437642015-07-01T13:19:00.000-07:002015-07-01T13:19:27.224-07:00Myth Campaign Diary: The long overdue Story 2, Act 1 parts 1 and 2 update<div class="MsoNormal"><i>“I’m not really sure. Anyway, this is Jeff, he says he’s good with traps so we probably don’t need the ROUS anyway.”<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“And what bar, pray tell, did you find Jeff in, priest?”<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“I’ll have you know that was devotional.”<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“Yes, the last one said that too. Just before the razorfiend gutted him, as I recall.”<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>The Spriggan looked impassively on as the Acolyte and Archer engaged in their usual arguing. All human fleshlings looked alike to her anyway.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Nearby, the Trickster, whose name was not Jeff, fiddled with his pack, desperately trying to organise the bits and bobs therein into some kind of useful order. The Brigand had slunk out of the bar while the Acolyte’s holy gaze was eyeing up a serving wench to attend to some personal business. The Trickster was simply unlucky and naïve enough to make eye contact during the subsequent fracas and eviction.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>To compound matters, a travelling minstrel had attached himself the band as they crossed the last ford claiming that a wise woman had foreseen great deeds in their future. <o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“Maybe for the Archer”, thought the Trickster, “but a tree and a ‘devine’ of Boabeh? Unlikely, still maybe I can pick up some easy loot and then head back to civilisation with him when he realises the wise woman was just a mad old crone.”<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>…<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“So all we have to do is talk to the miscreant and ask nicely where the gem is.” Stated the Acolyte confidently.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>As usual the Spriggan said nothing and the Archer simply threw a withering stare.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“Let’s get on with it then.” She said brusquely.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Crossing the courtyard towards the palace the ground suddenly gave way and belched forth half a dozen crawlers.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“Aha!” Shouted the Trickster, “I have just the thing.”<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Rummaging in the top of his pack he grabbed a collection of bolts, cogs and an old saw blade. Moments later a whirring, clockwork, wheeled saw contraption lurched towards the surprised crawlers, cutting half of them down.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Stunned by the effectiveness of their newest companion the other adventurers bold took a while to organise themselves but within short order the Archer and a cloud of very angry bees had made short work of the rest.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“See, easy.” Said the Acolyte, only slightly disappointed that a prayer had not been necessary.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>This proved to be a masterstroke of understatement as the jolly band strode confidently into the main hall.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>…<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal">So far Story 2 Act 1 has taken two sessions, early confidence proved to be misplaced as bad luck poor lair management and the appearance of two mini bosses have slowed progress to a crawl.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The first section was cleared easily enough, but the big tile with two lairs rapidly filled up with minions, blocking access to the lairs.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">While on tile one the Trickster looked quite impressive it soon became clear that he is not a great complement to the other three characters and is very heavily reliant on the right draw of cards to do much of anything. I spent the majority of the first session watching from the side-lines, never managing to do much of anything, bar a single grenade. Perhaps a well geared Journeyman will be better but due to this, the trickster is my least favourite class to play so far.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">My favourite, I think, remains the soldier and as a group we are a little light on threat management, although against a mainly crawler opposition that’s not as important as they are a proximity based attacker.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">There are two lairs on the main tile and the grubber lair was taken out pretty quickly. The crawler lair was slightly further away from the entrance though and had time to spawn a lot of minions before the party was in range, effectively blocking it.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Staying on top of the crawlers was proving a major undertaking as we basically hit a stalemate. The Spriggan’s draw was suboptimal and so she powered up quite slowly on this tile. This makes things tricks as she is fulfilling the role of the soldier due to her effective regeneration.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">The dead weight of the Trickster left it to the Archer to deal out the majority of the damage. Once again the value of the endless quiver can’t be understated here. Neither can the value of the Harbinger title in reducing the damage potential of the darkness by forcing a courage test.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“Razorfiend! It must be the mate of the one that slew the last Acolyte, where’s this one?”<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal">…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Unluckily at the start of session 2 the Acolyte drew a threat 8 event and a mini boss showed up, we went with the razorfiend and attendants again as that seemed to fit with the scenario. Closely following that the Darkness spawned a second mini boss and feeling risky we put Etrus on the board. Luckily the mass of crawlers boxed him in giving us time to plan our next move.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">I had given up on the Trickster by this point and we agreed to bring in the Brigand again starting at the back of the 6x4 tile entrance to the 12x12.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“By the Holy Rod! The mucker’s exploded!” exclaimed the Acolyte, as the razorfiend’s mucker attendant burst apart in a shower of entrails.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Suddenly in a blur of black fur and blades four crawlers lay in cracked, bleeding heaps. The crawler pack burst apart as the spitters tried to escape the whirlwind of steel.<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“I leave for an hour to take care of a personal matter and this is what I come back to? Amateurs.”<o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal">…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Fantastic draw for the Bandit, into shadows straight away and a massive attack to finish off the mucker in one go. Then back into the shadows and a suicide run to follow up. The mobility of the Brigand really seems to bring something to the group so I think that he’ll stick around as a permanent feature if I’m not playing the Soldier.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Etrus looked like a massive challenge but the mob of crawlers really penned him in an let the Archer pick him off from long range while the Brigand moved across the tile to take out the lair.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Our only casualty was the Acolyte who dodged the bullet via serendipity so what looked like it was shaping up for a TPK ended with us bloodied but unbowed.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Bring on Act 1 part 3.<o:p></o:p></div>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-88188113399405730892015-04-25T16:24:00.000-07:002015-04-25T16:25:29.643-07:00Myth Campaign Diary: Razorfiend Hunt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mGccFyBEBhs/VTvybT8L91I/AAAAAAAAHJE/4pWCGPXbpJg/s1600/WP_20150413_23_33_42_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mGccFyBEBhs/VTvybT8L91I/AAAAAAAAHJE/4pWCGPXbpJg/s1600/WP_20150413_23_33_42_Pro.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><i>"Behind you!" Shouted Fenwick as the razorfiend lumbered into view, goaded by its attendant grubbers.</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>The acolyte turned to see the massive fists of the creature smashing down towards him.</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>At that moment a swarm of bees burst from the air around the spriggan leaving the swollen bodies of the grubbers writing on the ground.&nbsp;</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>Rolling to one side Fenwick&nbsp;buried&nbsp;an arrow deep into the 'fiend's side causing it to rear up in pain. Perfectly positioning it for the follow-up. Nothing but the arrow's knock could be seen protruding from the creature's thick neck as it toppled like a skillfully felled tree.</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>Rushing to the acolyte's side, she was only in time to hear him murmur&nbsp;his last few words, "the servants of Boabeh always rise again" before the light faded from his eyes&nbsp;</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>Standing over the body of her fallen comrade, pondering his almost sinister sounding pronouncement she turned to the spriggan and asked "where's the Skald?"</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>Staggering from beneath a mound of dead crawlers the Skald lurched toward them "It's too late. The poison..." and the Skald breathed his last.</i><br /><i><br /></i><br />Act one of the second story quest nearly ended in a TPK. As you can see from the artfully posed picture, however, the ladies saved the day (again), taking out the razorfiend while we sat about and made crude jokes about the acolyte.<br /><br />In fairness to him, it was frightfully bad luck that we drew a threat 8 darkness card rather than the normal threat 10 as before that he had managed to take out a swathe of minions.<br /><br />I forgot that the Skald had picked up a poison DoT earlier in the session and when I went back and recounted realised that he should be dead as well.<br /><br />At the end of the last story the Archer had opted to take the title and used it to retain her blue endless quiver. And boy has that come in handy. The biggest benefit is that she always has enough arrows for a full Orions Tears, which is a great way to clear a tile cluttered up with minions. Added to that, there's almost always ammo available for the other special attacks. Tumble is being used quite a lot for maneuvering, especially as it grants a free shot and doesn't count as a move.<br /><br />The Skald was an interesting character to play. The play style is completely different from the other characters as all the Skalds actions are resolved at the head of the Hero Cycle. This make him a great choice for anyone who is demoing as their turn is finished before everone else's starts and that frees them up to run the darkness board, check rules etc.<br /><br />The only negative is that the Skald's abilities could do with an additional point of range. Range 1 and 2 are a bit too close to give good coverage to the party, especially with ranged characters in the mix. The low range can also leave the Skald exposed, and he is a poor melee combatant.<br /><br />On the painting front, as you can see neither the characters or the mini boss are painted yet. As at time of writing the spriggan is almost finished though and it's only layer coats on the Terror and some basing on the scorpion captains that needs done to complete that set. Once the Terror set is complete I'm going to concentrate on the heroes and then move on in boss order, so it will be Orcneas' troupe of muckers and grubbers that get a lick of paint after that.Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-91830413739515537262015-04-13T05:25:00.001-07:002015-04-25T12:58:54.106-07:00Myth Campaign Diary: Burn Baby, Burn<div dir="ltr">A week late but better late than never...</div><div dir="ltr">Myth Mondays continue with the final act of the first story quest. On the opening tile we went for the rolling boulder trap which was navigated successfully after easily dispatching the limited resistance of a grubber hunting pack. This proved mainly to be an opportunity for the Archer to stack up her Endless Quiver with ammo prior to entering the next section of the map. </div><div dir="ltr">The cards fell very nicely for the Acolyte and Brigand over this whole session with both characters being able to pull off their maximum combos at least once. The movement card restriction from the story quest proved to be more annoying than hindering, partly because this is a limited time session so it just made trivial tasks take longer.</div><div dir="ltr">This week the Spriggan suffered from the poor draw order that the plagued the brigand in the last session and so it was a relatively unsatisfying session from that player's point of view.</div><div dir="ltr">Back to the action and by the time we had made it to the Inn it was absolutely rammed with crawlers, (I think there were about 4 spaces left), due to the automatic spawn on refresh from the story quest. Being well geared, this proved to be less problematic than feared as we activated them in the narrower 6x12 forcing them into a chokepoint. Things nearly came unstuck when the Archer triggered all but one of the pit traps herself, but luck was on our side and so managed to leap from danger every time. </div><div dir="ltr">A timely suicide run following a six point Orion's Tears left the Brigand able to set a flame to the carelessly left kindling to clear the quest without having to risk a prolonged snipe at the remaining lair, aided as we were by the timely arrival of our new ally Bobby, who's quest chain we had completed on the way in.</div><div dir="ltr">The game looked even better than last week as all the crawler mini's are painted and the captains are now only a single coat away. With any luck I'll find time to post a few pictures of them next post. Next up for painting once the terror set is complete are the heroes and the Orcneas' gang of grubbers and muckers.</div><div dir="ltr"><i>"Stop praying! I can see you doing it from here, even though you have your back turned", Fenwick shouted at the Acolyte nocking a third arrow to the string.</i><br /><i>"You need Boabeh! For he smites down all who would mock him" returned the Acolyte grasping his staff more firmly.</i></div><div dir="ltr"><i>As usual, the Brigand was nowhere to be seen and the Spriggan had shed it's leaves and taken root on a clear patch of ground in a semblance of sleep. </i></div><div dir="ltr"><i>"There's no time for rest" called the Acolyte, "the ground is alive with crawlers and we have a vengeance to take. Stay close that my staff might give you succor."</i></div><div dir="ltr"><i>Shaking her head, Fenwick suddenly leapt forward, rolled and buried an arrow into the crawler that a second before had burst from the ground a few yards from where the party had stopped to take stock. At the same time a swarm of bees buzzsawed angrily through the air to leave a second and third writhing on the ground while the Spriggan looked on impassively .</i></div>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-36737591934549818762015-03-24T09:27:00.001-07:002015-03-24T09:50:51.050-07:00Myth Campaign Diary: The Boneyard<p dir="ltr">&lt;i&gt;Dragging ourselves from the crawler lair we had hoped for some respite from the Darkness. Gravely wounded the Soldier withdrew to minister to his wounds. His place in our ranks filled by a Brigand, here to rob the graves of the recently departed but now trapped here in the boneyard with the three of while the ground beneath us began to seeth with crawlers.&lt;/i&gt;</p><p dir="ltr">Act two of the first quest is a slaughterfield of five rounds. The wave mechanic works really well here providing plenty enemies to dispatch and good opportunities for looting. With 4 players I don't think we were stretched too much and we cleared a couple of the waves in two turns. Not having the Soldier in the mix provided, as expected, much more of an opportunity for the Spriggan to shine. The lucky draw in act one of the everfull quiver also meant that the Archer managed to fire off two full volleys of Orion's Tears which wiped half the tile at a time.</p><p dir="ltr">The Brigand plays reasonably well in this mix, and was a fun character to play, but I think that I personally like the Soldier more. The draw for the Brigand was a bit patchy so the bigger combos never really materialised, but that's just the luck of the draw. The non-combat lair kill and pinpoint massive attacks might come more into their own next session when we tackle act 3, or I may test run the Skald or Trickster.</p><p dir="ltr">The next story arc will feature more fiction once the group mix has settled down and everyone has provided their character names. Archer - I'm looking at you!<br></p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-85920795622411976542015-03-06T09:39:00.001-08:002015-03-11T16:15:00.181-07:00Myth Campaign Diary : 1st day of Summers Turn. <p dir="ltr">&lt;i&gt;''Awakening, grasped by the cold hands of travellers even less fortunate than ourselves, I lurched quickly to my feet. The chittering giving the only hint in the darkness of the crawler lair we had been dumped next to."&lt;/i&gt;</p><p dir="ltr">So Mythic Mondays have begun and we are starting at the beginning with story quest one. </p><p dir="ltr">For this first run we went with the Soldier, the Apprentice, the Acolyte and the Archer. For those of you not familiar with the quest, the starting equipment is a green draw and a choice of one brown item.</p><p dir="ltr">Everyone chose wisely, except me, forgetting that a whole heap of the Soldier's abilities require the shield and instead I ended up with a useless green item (bagpipes or something) and the fireplace poker.</p><p dir="ltr">Through a combination of poor luck and poor judgement both the Apprentice and Soldier went down in the first few turns leaving the Archer and Acolyte to face certain death at thee hands of a mucker and a whole hoard of grubbers and crawlers.</p><p dir="ltr">Rather than restart, we agreed that there must have been some other poor unfortunates dumped with us, coincidentally another Soldier and Apprentice, but this time ones with the requisite pot lid for the Soldier and a better starting hand for the Apprentice.</p><p dir="ltr">Despite our early mistakes everyone had a fantastic time and was looking forward to Act one part two the next week.</p><p dir="ltr">&lt;b&gt;Later that same day&lt;/b&gt;</p><p dir="ltr">&lt;i&gt;"Gravely wounded and drenched in corpse fat the Apprentice withdrew with her place in the party filled by the Spriggan sprout. <u>Thusly</u> reinforced; and rearmed by a friendly merchant we ventured on to enter a large underground cavern, infested with crawlers."&lt;/i&gt;</p><p dir="ltr">Week two of Mythic Mondays, and we're still on Act 1. However, we're properly equipped and this time we decide to be cowardly and bring on the minimum number of critters. Strategically we are also beginning to get the hang of our characters, although I finished the night feeling that the Spriggan had been a bit under-utilised. This was largely due to the excellent performance of the Soldier who got some great timely draws. Combo's of the night for the Soldier were Impenetrable and three rage, making him unhittable by the crawlers and a six square Riding the Edge which wiped out half the crawlers and generated two treasure drops. Early strikes on the lairs by the Archer and Spriggan combined to stem the flow of minions and from there it was a simple case of mopping up. </p><p dir="ltr">Next time we will move on to act 2 and be braver with our initial minion setups. Our heroes are also getting names and back stories with more fiction to come in future articles. </p><p dir="ltr">The crawler minis have also received most of their paint job (primed, based and inked) and are starting to look spiffy. Photos will follow in subsequent posts.</p><p dir="ltr">Again, we all had a brilliant time, co-op games are rapidly becoming my favourite, so we are really looking forward to MERCs Recon shipping soon. </p><p dir="ltr">For this session we were using the new 2.0 rules which are a huge improvement over v 1. The book flows better and therefore makes the setup and game play smoother. The rules revisions and clarifications are broadly all things that we had house ruled on previously and the guys at Megacon has clearly taken time to understand and deliberate on fan feedback before issuing v2. We still make the odd booboo now and again but that's more to do with enthusiasm than any failing in the instructions. </p><p dir="ltr">The hardest part is now going to be painting up all the minis before Journeyman arrives. <br></p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-70189238935135495332014-10-18T11:26:00.001-07:002015-03-10T12:54:15.660-07:00Books and book like things. <p dir="ltr"><u>There</u> have been some great humble bundle comic offers up recently so I'll be reading my way through those now I've finished my epic run through Hellboy BPRD and other assorted goodies. </p><p dir="ltr">I think my favourites are <u>the</u> chronologically early Hellboys and the Baltimore mini series. </p><p dir="ltr">Probably because although I understand the necessity of it I'm not a huge fan of big arc structures as more often than not they seem to get in the way of telling a good story. I'm more interested in discrete events and the telling of them.</p><p dir="ltr">As I've been reading Achtung! Cthulu as well my head has been rooted in the first half of the twentieth century and so they have been a good fit with that too. </p><p dir="ltr">As it's Halloween around the corner I'd like to call out Rachel Rising and Revival as two of the best modern takes on the "zombie" genre. Well worth checking out if your local comic store can get a copy. I'm looking at you Settlers, Hamilton. </p><p dir="ltr">My lunchtime read is Irregular Creatures by Chuck Wendig. Only just started this but so far a cat has just sprouted wings so that does seem pretty irregular. Squeezed in somewhere will be the next book in the Sea Beggars series by Paul Kearney. The first one, The Mark of Ran was a well paced, darkish swashbuckler with some seamless world building and a few deft touches of characterisation among some other more well established tropes. </p><p dir="ltr">As a final note, those of you to the left of centre and RATM or Nightwatchman fans would do well to check out the Orchid mini series authored by the one and only Mr. Tom Morello. Still Fighting the Power even after the Apocalypse. </p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-88789806512816866832014-10-03T10:59:00.001-07:002014-10-03T11:04:40.309-07:00Tattoo Virgin deflowered<p dir="ltr">Massive thanks to Kristen at Cherry Pie in Hamilton. Three hours this morning and already looking awesome. Four more hours to go. </p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr">The design is based on the work of one of my &nbsp;all time favourite artists reworked by Kristen to fit on my arm. One (possibly more) fish to go. Check out the original artwork and much more here:</p><p dir="ltr">http://www.nanamicowdroy.com</p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-AxVEqcUZ-Yo/VC7kHZZbh0I/AAAAAAAAE4g/vVc8TxXnv5g/s1600/IMG_20141003_185401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="text-align: center; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-AxVEqcUZ-Yo/VC7kHZZbh0I/AAAAAAAAE4g/vVc8TxXnv5g/s640/IMG_20141003_185401.jpg"></a></p>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-63796242470676090792014-09-24T12:33:00.000-07:002014-09-24T12:35:39.311-07:00Interim P&P Card Games Review<img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects/1234306/photo-main.jpg?1407372056" style="display: none;" />Recently I've had a rush of kickstarted print and play card games arrive in my inbox and had the time to cut them all out and try them.<br /><br />The three from <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/firesquadron/fire-squadron-print-and-play">Fire Squadron</a> (Black Market Warehouse, Battle Fish and Braiiiins) are fully printed, cut and sleeved as is <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chaoticpattern/rise-to-power-a-city-building-card-game-for-2-4-pl">Rise to Power</a>.<br /><br />Printed but not prepped - The Agents Return<br /><br />Downloaded but not printed &nbsp;- Maha Yoda<br /><br />Battle Fish has the shortest play time (around 15 min) and has a really simple set of rules. Great to play with kids or as an icebreaker or infill between other games.<br /><br />Black Market Warehouse plays only slightly longer and again has a fairly simple set of rules, albeit slightly more complex than Battle Fish. The game has a great sense of humour and is simple enough to teach to kids although many of the jokes will go over their heads (Who's Jimmy Hoffa?).<br /><br />Braiiiins is the most complicated of the Fire Squadron games so far and operates best in co-op mode where your zombie masters team up to wipe out a small town's population. My only criticism is that it seems balanced slightly in favour of the Brawler class zombie master in our early play throughs.<br /><br />Rise to Power takes about an hour to play through and although we have only played a few times there is clearly a great depth of strategy available and all the games have ended very closely so far.Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-88990449894997378902014-08-19T13:28:00.001-07:002014-08-19T13:48:12.703-07:00Mists, Madness and Traps - A Monsters & Magic Play Report<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Homo_floresiensis_cave.jpg" style="display: none;" />Followers of the Cave's gaming related posts will know that we're playing&nbsp;<a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/100929837232469976583" target="_blank">+Sarah Newton</a>'s Monsters &amp; Magic at the moment. There's a previous post with the stat blocks in but as a quick recap the party consists of:<br /><br /><ul><li>Patience, Cleric of Ororo the Storm Goddess and likely copyright infringer.</li><li>Ash, the (formerly) Nameless One, werewolf torching&nbsp;<strike>glass ninja</strike>&nbsp;magic user.</li><li>Thiefly Stabbit, unfortunately named, not quite evil but nearly, monomaniacal sociopath.</li></ul><div>As an introduction to the system and because I wanted to trial it out before taking the plunge and retooling my massive library of heartbreaker compatible scenarios we're playing through the Silvermoon adventure presented in the core book.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'll run through the session first and then come to my impressions of how the system works as GM/DM/MM.</div><div><br /></div><div>In lieu of a strong group hook the adventurers all met on the road to Silvermoon and have slightly different objectives for going there. Patience is there to investigate why the local priest has not sent his tithe back to the mother house for some weeks. Ash is there looking for a magical doodad that is allegedly hidden in the abandoned temple. And we can all guess why Mr. Stabbit is there.</div><div><br /></div><div>Upon arriving at the bridge into the town the three amigos are met by a lone guardsman, who provides them with some opening banter and a little exposition. He is, however, entirely mad and therefore does so in a roundabout, meandering fashion. Patience is the first to get past the guard, proving that an ounce of politeness is worth a pound of trickery. Ash and Theifly soon realise that there is nothing more directly useful that they can get out of someone who is clearly quite insane and finally manage to negotiate their way into town.</div><div><br /></div><div>First stop is the blacksmith who takes a stereotypically instant dislike to Patience and her pointy ears. Wisely she goes off to investigate the church while the boys try to get some info out of the smith.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Finishing their chat with the smith when Thiefly realises that he doesn't have a secret stash of magical weapons he can pilfer they adjourn to the inn where they have a brief conversation with the barkeep. Not liking the look of the other occupants there's a brief discussion before deciding that they would rather doss down in the abandoned church than risk the inn.</div><div><br /></div><div>Someone, Ash or Thiefly I think then remembers that the guard talked about a witch. There then ensues a brief Blackadder riff before they head off to find the witch's grotto. Finding it is easy enough but the trio systematically fail all their charisma checks and decide to return to the church when the witch fails to put in appearance. Unknown to them, having fluffed it so remarkably big bad then shows up later that same day and recruits the witch to his side (sorry players).</div><div><br /></div><div>That night the mists roll in over Silvermoon and as the first howls begin our three intrepid adventurers bar the door of the church and head for higher ground. As the door twists and cracks a big hairy arm reaches through and due to a misreading of the rules by me Patience pummels it into a big flat hairy arm in no time with her S<i>piritual Hammer</i>. Patience and Theifly then decide to retreat to the bell tower. Ostensibly so that the thief can shoot from the tower at the attackers below. However, distance and the thickness of the mist mean that he was as well just throwing a quiver full of arrows over the balcony and hoping for the best.</div><div><br /></div><div>Meanwhile, Ash is left down stairs to hold the fort. Despite the addition of his 90lb bulk to the benches it's not much of a struggle for the next werewolf to burst through into the nave. Burning Hands appears not to have a damage die so no cap on damage from the Effect Engine so despite being in a blind panic a lucky roll means that his hairy assailant goes up like a roman candle.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eventually the werewolves beat a retreat, carrying some of the villagers off with them and after a sleepless night the three man posse sets off after them.</div><div><br /></div><div>After a brief argument about marching order and how Ash wanted to be in the middle and Patience should try to guard the front an back simultaneously they voted by 2 to 1 to send Thiefly on ahead as trap detector in chief. We left the action just as Thiefly flubbed his perception check and skillfully detected a mantrap with his foot. Maybe no one heard his yelp...</div><br /><hr /><br /><div>So far my GM/DM/MM impressions are overall good, the mix of old school with the EE has worked very well so far. It has certainly made a big difference to the spell casters as we're using the optional spell loss rules. As heartbreakers tend to be mostly combat oriented I think I'd like a few more examples and options presented in the core text to help explain how the EE works for the players. This group is very time constrained so anything that helps speed understanding is good news. I don't think we've really got to grips with MHP but there's time yet. I missed the opportunity to do some MHP damage when the guys fluffed their charisma checks at the witch's grotto but there you go.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next session will be the big test as the characters breach Silvermoon temple and I lay it on thick with the villains.</div>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-56978285632997742032014-08-14T04:51:00.001-07:002014-08-14T04:53:12.537-07:00Cheers Ears<div dir="ltr">Massive thanks to my friend Jo at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/CherryPieTattooPiercing">Cherry </a><a href="http://www.facebook.com/CherryPieTattooPiercing"><u>Pie</u></a> in Hamilton. </div><div dir="ltr">One week on and the zero to 8mm tunnels are looking and feeling great. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-x6-GyIFjdq4/U-yi3EKPfHI/AAAAAAAAEho/T5W9cyi6dpI/s1600/IMG_20140814_124411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-x6-GyIFjdq4/U-yi3EKPfHI/AAAAAAAAEho/T5W9cyi6dpI/s640/IMG_20140814_124411.jpg" /> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Also check out my brand new Zombie 15 from Iello sitting on top of the snake's tank. :)</div>Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1960577352202394575.post-23633901019004817792014-08-14T04:42:00.001-07:002014-08-14T04:42:20.794-07:00Drowned Metropolis Gets its Own HomeMy main writing project for the end of this year is shaping up to be Drowned Metropolis and so rather than clutter up the cave with multiple posts capturing my thoughts and world design process the project has a new home over at:<br /><br /><a href="http://drownedmetropolis.blogspot.co.uk/">http://drownedmetropolis.blogspot.co.uk/</a><br /><br />Please go over and take a look. It's pretty sparse right now, but will soon begin to fill out.<br /><br />The cave is going to remain the home of all my other projects, game write-ups, play reports, general rambing etc.Duncan Bainhttps://plus.google.com/104475823371714633116noreply@blogger.com0